Friday, March 4
My Holy Spirit Experience
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and the spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, You must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” —John 3:5-7
I had married again when my sons were teenagers, and with my new husband came three young adult daughters. I was blessed to finally have my girls. The oldest daughter, Debbie, is bipolar and at that time her condition was under control with medication. As time went by, life with her became an emotional roller coaster. She was always in need of money, and my husband gave it to her – for rent, buying and repairing a parade of cars – and soon there were three children, different fathers, no marriage and not a lot of support. The problem was that he would give her whatever she asked for and then tell me about it after the fact. I was never part of the decision and felt like I always came in second. This led to resentment, which hurt me far more than either my husband or Debbie. God does work in mysterious ways though, which I learned one December night.
I had attended my Cursillo weekend several years before my marriage and had worked on a couple of teams, which richly blessed me. That December my name was submitted for an upcoming team, but I was not chosen. I was disappointed, but life went on. A few days after Christmas another Debbie incident occurred that deeply upset me. In the middle of the night I awoke and could not go back to sleep. In desperation I began praying, and God and I had several hours of conversation.
A day or two later I got the call that I was on the team, thank you God! When it came time for team assignments, it turned out that there was one too many on the team, so I was assigned to give a “rollo,” a talk, with another person; not sure that had ever happened before. They paired me with Marilyn having no idea that we had a history. We had gone through our divorces together and were each other’s support system, caring for one another, spending many hours together, shedding tears and sharing joys. It is no coincidence that our talk was “Being Christ in Our Environment.” We closed with the song “They’ll Know We are Christians by Our Love.” Those not in the rollo room filled the hallways to hear our witness. If I ever had any doubts, I knew the Holy Spirit was alive and well that day. My problems were not solved, but that experience made my journey lighter.
Dear Lord, help me to remember the times when the Holy Spirit touched my life in very special ways and is with me always. Amen.
Lenni Stickles